Things Are Picking Up!

Hello all.  I'm so glad to see the return of Top Chef Masters and Project Runway.  At the same time, other shows had their finales.  So here we go.

Food Network Star finally revealed the winner.  First, they gathered all the past contestants from the season to show clips and snips; some of which were totally hilarious.  We got some insight toward the downfalls of the contestants from the judges' points of view and we got to see the bloopers.  The total professionalism of the season showed in that I didn't really hate to see anybody return to the show.  There were a lot of times in the show when I would say, "Ohhh...that explains a lot." Ok, so in the end, Justin was declared the winner and he seemed in shock.  I don't know why because we're all ready for his funky coolness in a show.  He was quite gracious and the show ended 2 minutes after the announcement.  Jeez, not a lot of time to see him be congratulated.  WTG Justin, I'm expecting good stuff from you.

America's Got Talent is still whittling away at the acts.  I'm happy to see some really cool stuff that isn't all singers that have a real shot.  I just hope the American people vote for them.  I hope that light show act wins.  That kind of thing is really cool to see in a Vegas show.  I'm very glad to see the judges pointing out the value of the multi layered acts.

American Ninja Warrior had it's finale w/ the group of guys who completed stage 1 moving on to stage 2.  OMG, it was a freakin' blood bath.  Only 1 guy finished the course.  Then he went on to stage 3 which was all about hand strength and endurance.  Unfortunately, we have no American Ninja Warrior this year and for some odd reason, I did love it when Matt announced, "See you next year."  Watching the whole thing really made me admire those Japanese guys who finished the course in Japan.  They were totally awesome!  In the meantime, all you Ninja Warrior wannabes; practice practice practice.

Hell's Kitchen had a Southern food show.  Each chef partnered up w/ a chef from the opposing team and were given ingredients to work w/ like catfish and grits, etc.  Then they made a dish each to be judged head to head.  What?  No Paula Deen?  The only annoying thing was the gospel choir singers announcing each ingredient.  That got tiring after the first one.  Anyway, most of the dishes were judged as pretty good but the red team pulled out the win.  BTW, aren't balls of meatloaf called meatballs?  For the prize, the red team had the photoshoot for the magazine cover and a spa day.  The punishment consisted of cleaning the dorms.  For dinner service, the theme was of course; wait for it...Southern food complete w/ catfish, grits and fried chicken.  Well, at least they had a day off from scallops.  Unfortunately, the catfish seemed to be harder to cook than the chefs realized.  It was burned, raw and sometimes both.  Everybody thought Kimmie would be stellar since she bragged about how great she was at Southern food but then again, she's bragged about being a great cook of everything else too.  We always knew Kimmie had help from Tiffany but we never knew how much because w/ Tiffany gone, Kimmie had nowhere to hide.  In the blue kitchen, everybody had problems.  Robin precooked her garnishes and hid them in the oven which really ticked off Chef Ramsey cuz his big thing is freshness of food.  She took up a lot of time fingerpointing again, blaming members of her team for telling her to use the warming oven blah blah blah.  Justin got killed by the meat station and Clemenza couldn't get consistency on his apps.  Ugh.  I thought Chef Ramsey was going to have a stroke.  In the end, both teams were told they were losers but it was Kimmie who got the boot.  Bye Kimmie, go bully someone in your own place.  The next day the chefs had to do the cooking relay.  This is always an interesting challenge because the chefs can't hide their ineptitude.  Clemenza drove his blue team crazy by wasting time during his 10 minutes of cooking to tie his apron just so.  OMG, really?  Everybody was surprised that none of the dishes came out good.  Some were undercooked, some were overcooked, and there was sauce and garnish missing.  Chef Ramsey was not only shocked but very disappointed and I would add, enlightened.  Most of the problem was terrible disorganization.  The teams just couldn't seem to get it together and maybe that's the problem at dinner services.  There was no winner and all the chefs had to do the punishment.  I loved that Chef Ramsay told them what they would be missing for not winning.  What a way to kick them when they're down.  Hee hee hee.  The punishment consisted of cleaning all the cars, and the red carpet area.  There was a lot of complaining and shouting.  At dinner service the blue team got through the apps but Brian got killed by that meat station.  The red team, of just 3 ladies, completed their dinner service and Barbie was called to the red team's kitchen to pull their fat out of the fire; which she did.  WTG Barbie!  I still don't understand why the girls don't like her.  So needless to say, the blue team lost and the whole team had to present themselves for elimination.  Brian got the boot.  Yep, he used up his last chance.  Bye Brian.  You're cute and funny but those aren't things Chef Ramsay values in a chef.

MasterChef brought back past eliminated cooks to see who could earn their way back.  Everybody was disappointed to see Ryan back.  Man, that guy has one heckuva big ego and can't shut up.  He totally got booted and was still bragging about what a great cook he is.   So they did the mystery box thing but the cooks each had to pick an ingredient to go in it.  There were some crazy choices and no starch.  How funny was that?  In the end, there were quite a few desserts presented to the judges.  It's lucky the cooks don't have to use all the ingredients like on Chopped.  I was impressed w/ Stacey making pasta and the judges loved her dish.  In the end, Josh w/ the big wide nostrils and Ryan were the last 2 standing.  Then they had to each make a fruit tarte which was to be judged by the top 6 cooks.  That meant those cooks couldn't watch and throw out digs while the guys cooked.  Josh pulled out the win and all the other cooks rejoiced because Ryan was sent home again.  For the next challenge the cooks had to work w/ live prawns.  OMG, it was the funniest thing to watch w/ a lot of screams and squeals.  Those buggers were really active.  I was thinking someone dumped Red Bull into their tanks.  Shockingly enough, David won the round but he was smart enough to use the shells to make a sauce.  The next test was to make a dessert w/ a specific ingredient.  David's advantage was to pick the ingredient and then see 3 examples of desserts made w/ that ingredient.   He chose corn and then chose to make a rice pudding made w/ corn in it.  Then he got time alone to pick his ingredients for his dish in the pantry.  What an idiot.  He forgot to get rice.  OMG, well instead of making it work and making another kind of dessert w/ corn, he stood around and begged people for rice.  Nobody thought he was much of a threat and Becky gave him some rice.  Good thought cuz his dessert turned out to be worse than dog food.  He said it tasted just like his Mom made at home which earned a huge glaring look from Judge Joe.  It made me think maybe his Mom can't cook either.   Becky was declared the winner and David proved he must have a lucky charm in his pocket cuz Felix was sent home for her really dense profiteroles filled w/ popcorn.  Ick.  Bye Felix, I'm sick to death of seeing you cry so go sit in the corner.

Love In the Wild had it's finale w/ Ken and Yanina and Ben and Michelle the last couples standing.  Once again they had to run around the island doing various tasks in various modes.  Wow!  This show is redundant and boring to the end.  They tried to show Ben and Michelle always being close on the heels of Ken and Yanina.  The overnight was hilarious w/ the people trying to build shelters and cook meals and not caring about how they turned out.  They were totally exhausted from the day and one thing we noticed was not much cuddling going on at that point.  I think lack of a shower contributed too.  In the end, Ken and Yanina hit the finish mat first w/ their statues.  It proved the show lied and Ben and Michelle were never close enough to overtake them.  Yawn.  They did give updates on the relationships.  BFD, I didn't care and I hope to never see these people on TV ever again.

Top Chef Masters is back w/ some really cool chefs for example:  Chris Cosentino, Lorena from the Taco Bell commercials, a thinner Art Smith, Chef Takashi, Chef Leo and more.  OMG, I'm totally impressed and excited.  It looks like they're sticking w/ the format from last season so I'm expecting some really tired and grouchy chefs toward the end.  The show's in Las Vegas this season and they're using the gambling motif.  For the quickfire Chef Stone pulled out cards w/ ingredients.  The chefs were paired up into teams and given 2 random ingredients.  I didn't understand why the chefs thought quinoa and shellfish would be hard to work w/.  The real problem was the time constraint of just 15 minutes.  Oy!  I saw the problem cuz the quinoa would take 20 to make.  Casino dealers were brought in to taste and judge and deemed the team of Cosentino and Leo the winners w/ their catfish and beef dish.  Wow!  That was some impressive cooking since they had to take a little time to break down their meats.  For the elimination challenge, the chefs were put into 2 teams by Curtis saying, "Split the group there and you on that side are one team and you on that side are a team."  That's hilarious cuz some of the chefs were standing by their buddies.  The teams then caucussed (thank you Tim Gunn) for their buffet dishes and then shopped for ingredients.  I loved Art Smith saying he didn't know what a budget was cuz he cooks for billionaires.  Oh boy!  When the chefs returned to the kitchen, they got a really big surprise cuz that's when Curtis handed them the curveballs.  They got scratch tickets that had various "prizes":  immunity, lost time, switch teams and money.  I thought the money was to go to their charities but no it was supposed to go for more ingredients:  hint hint.  Then the teams were given their food themes.  I felt so sorry for the blue team for getting Indian cuisine because there are no Indian chefs this season.  Too bad Suvir wasn't there.  I was thinking the blue team would send someone to load up on spices and yoghurt but nope, nobody was sent to the store.  The red team sent Art who didn't complain at all about the trip taking time out of his cooking time.  I have a feeling he already had a plan to make a simple and fast dish.  Someone knows how to play this game.  One chef totally skinned her hand on the mandoline and had to spend the day in the ER.  It was cool that not only did her teammates finish her dish, but did a good job of it too.  So after seeing a bunch of Vegas show people going through the chefs' buffets and make dumb comments the judges finally tasted the food.  I loved the little argument between Ruth and James over the lemon dessert.  I don't know why, but I really like James.  He's geeky in that cool way.  Anyway, the red team's Mexican buffet was declared the winner which was no surprise since the blue team didn't have anything that was really Indian.  What?  Nobody knows how to make a curry?  In the end, the Chef who mangled her hand announced her inability to stay in the competition and that blonde lady chef who wished her theme was Mexican was sent home.  Well Luck wasn't w/ her.  Both teams lost a chef and it turned out to be a double elimination show.  Yay!  I love those.

Project Runway had it's unconventional challenge.  The show was an hour and a half and I thought, yay!  They're finally going to show model choosing again.  Nope, they didn't.  Aw...shucks.  I don't know why, but I've always liked that part of the show.  Maybe they've cut out the modeling competition part of the show.  One thing they did cut was the cash prize.  The winner gets a prize package of stuff from a computer company, a car and an opportunity to show their line.  There was a spoiler on 2 people who just up and quit the show and now I know why.  If there's no cash prize and you have all the stuff anyway, what's the point of winning except for bragging rights?  Anyway, back to the show.  The designers had to work w/ candy.  There was a good 10 minute in show commercial for a certain candy store and then the designers were let loose w/ a certain amount of money.  That's new.  I've never seen a money amount except at Mood.  I have to say, I was totally impressed w/ the designers this year.  There was very little whining about the materials and really only 4 people who had cloth material showing.  Kooan, the kooky kabuki, seems to be the Santino of the season and can't help but over embellish his designs.  That boring middle aged white lady made all kinds of excuses and had very little candy on her dress.  She was totally raked over the coals by the judges.  Ven made a gorgeous dress and I loved his instructions to his model to not bend, sit down or even brush up against anything.  I really liked the dress made by the winner from the last challenge and thought it looked like something Kristen Stewart would wear.  I was surprised he didn't end up in the top 3.  Sonjia isn't pronounced Sonya but she made a gorgeous aqua themed dress that probably smelled really nice w/ gummy sharks, jordan almonds, jawbreakers and jellybeans.  I couldn't believe she got all that stuff glued onto that dress.  Gunnar finally put his money where his mouth was and turned out a cute checkered dress made out of licorice but that peplum was quite large.  The judges weren't loving hats which I can't understand since Princess Kate is making them look so chic these days.  Ven was declared the winner.  Finally, that boring white middle age lady ran out of excuses and chances and was auffed.  Bye, whoever you are.  Not only are you gone, but forgotten too.

Well, that's about it. I'm glad to see Lex Medlin will be back at Drop Dead Diva.  Even though he's gained weight, he's still quite a cutie.  We lost 2 great TV actors this week:  Sherman Hemsley and Chad Everett.  They will be missed but will forever live on in TV land and in our hearts.

See you next time people.  Until then, stay tune.